The Columbia Basin Rural Development Institute (RDI) at Selkirk College recently gained access to the Community Data Program (CDP) – a database with over $1-million of credible data sets and information. The RDI’s mandate is to support evidence-based decision-making through the provision of information, applied research and related extension. The CDP is a national network of “consortia”, or groups of members. The RDI purchased a 5-year consortium membership for the Columbia-Basin Boundary region to advance its State of the Basin Initiative and to provide our communities with direct access to this immense data set.

“The RDI is happy to serve as the lead consortium organization”, said Dr. Terri MacDonald, Regional Innovation Chair at Selkirk College’s Columbia Basin Rural Development Institute. “The CDP database advances our mandate by opening up a considerable amount of community-level data for communities in our region. By providing direct access to this data alongside CDP support we anticipate our communities will experience enhanced capacity as it relates to policy and program-level decision-making.”

Any not-for-profit group in the region can become a member of the Columbia Basin-Boundary CDP consortium for an annual fee of only $125. The membership benefits include unlimited access to data sets from Statistics Canada (e.g., Labour Force Survey, Agricultural Census), Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, Industry Canada, and more. Topics covered include demographics, identity, housing, crime, education, workforce, and many others.

“The scale of the information is one of the key benefits of CDP”, added MacDonald. “You can access data sets at different scales, from census divisions to specific postal codes and custom geographies, and best of all, CDP offers training and on demand support for consortium members.”

For more information please visit the CDP Resources page. To join the CDP Consortium or to register for the orientation webinar on Monday, February 20th at 10am (PST) please fill out the form here: CDP Consortium form. Questions can be directed to Sarah Breen at sbreen@selkirk.ca.